Perspective: Living as Children of God

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Comments are always welcomed.

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Living as Children of God

Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:35-36 (NRSV)

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Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous...  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:44-45,48 (NRSV)

I wanna be in the Light as You are in the Light

I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens

Oh, Lord be my Light and be my salvation

'Cause all I want is to be in the Light

From "In the Light" by DC Talk

As you might already know, in the Bible there are four accounts of Jesus' life and ministry, which are known as Gospels.  Scholars generally agree that the Gospel attributed to St. Mark was the first to be written.  In the decades that followed the writing of this account, two other Gospels attributed to St. Matthew and St. Luke were written.  The two latter writers likely based their Gospels on Mark's, also including content from additional sources.  It is believed that one source used by both writers was a collection of Jesus' teachings.¹

A significant portion of Matthew's Gospel is Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount.²  In Luke's Gospel there is a shorter sermon known as the Sermon on the Plain.³  These two sermons are very similar in content but contain some subtle differences.

One noteworthy part of both sermons is Jesus' exhortation for us to love our enemies, to pray for those who mistreat us, and to do good for those who cannot or will not do good for us.  Jesus notes that loving people who are lovable and doing good things for people who can reciprocate is totally unremarkable, as everybody in the world already does such things.  Instead, He calls us to live according to a higher standard, to live as children of God by loving all people, even those we might consider our enemies.⁴  Between the two sermons are subtle differences in how Jesus describes God and in what He says it means to live as children of God.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus seeks to correct the notion that there are certain people we should love and certain people we should hate.  He begins His teaching by saying, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,'" and then proceeds to deconstruct the whole idea.  Jesus teaches us that God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous."  He concludes that to live as children of God is to "be perfect... as your heavenly Father is perfect."

To "be perfect" sounds like a tall order to fill, in not an utter impossibility.  Consider how often we hear someone say that nobody is perfect.  The word Jesus uses is the Greek word teleios, which connotes more of a sense of completeness or maturity than a sense of flawlessness.⁵  To "be perfect" as Jesus prescribes is to love without judging who may or may not be worthy of love, in the same way that God blesses all people with sunshine and rain without first sorting between the worthy and the unworthy.  Earlier in the sermon, Jesus says that people who work for peace "will be called children of God."⁶

In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus seems to be primarily concerned with mercy.  One dictionary defines mercy as "kind or forgiving treatment of someone who could be treated harshly" or "kindness or help given to people who are in a very bad or desperate situation."⁷  The word Jesus uses is derived from the Greek word oiktos which can be translated as "pity."⁸  He describes mercy as loving our enemies, doing good for other people, and lending without expecting repayment.  He describes God as "kind to the ungrateful and the wicked."  To live as children of God then is to "be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

According to one Gospel writer, Jesus says that to live as children of God is to be perfect by loving others without discrimination between those we like and those we dislike.  According to another, Jesus says that to live as children of God is to be merciful like God, doing good for those who do not deserve it and for those who cannot repay it.  Perhaps becoming perfect in love is our ultimate goal, and perhaps one way we move toward that goal is through practicing mercy, performing one act of undeserved kindness at a time.


Notes:

1. Adam Hamilton.  Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today.  2014, Harper One.  p. 97
2. Matthew 5-7
3. Luke 6:20-49
4. See Matthew 5:43-48 and Luke 6:27-36.  Quotations from these passages are taken from the NRSV.
5. Blue Letter Bible: "teleios"
6. Matthew 5:9 (NRSV)
7. Mirriam-Webster: "mercy"
8. Blue Letter Bible: "oiktirmōn" and "oiktirō"

The Sermon on the Mount was painted by Carl Heinrich Bloch in 1877.

Sermon: Asking, Searching, and Knocking

Delivered at Monaghan United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on July 24, 2016

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Asking, Searching, and Knocking

Audio Version

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."  He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

And do not bring us to the time of trial."

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.'  And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'  I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.   

"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.  Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?  Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Luke 11:1-13 (NRSV)

When You don't move the mountains I'm needing You to move

When You don't part the waters I wish I could walk through

When You don't give the answers as I cry out to You

I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!

From "Trust in You" by Lauren Daigle

One day several years ago, my coworker and her husband were heading home after a vacation out west.  They were scheduled to take two connecting flights with an hour-long layover in between.  Unfortunately, the first of their flights was delayed for an hour, and, as Murphy's Law would have it, when they landed they had to make their way from one end of the airport to the other.  When they reached the gate for their connecting flight, they were informed that the flight was already closed.  To make matters worse, it happened to be the last available flight to their destination that day.

Unwilling to wait until morning for another flight, my coworker's husband had an idea.  While the employee at the gate wasn't looking, they sneaked into the jetway and ran to the airplane.  The airplane's door was closed, so my coworker's husband started banging on it.  My coworker was afraid that she and her husband would be arrested, and she had good reason to be nervous, since airport security had been ramped up following the terrorist attacks of 2001.  When the flight attendant opened the door, she escorted my coworker and her husband back to the gate, and the flight was reopened for them.  Their audacity gave them the opportunity to board, and the delay they caused bought time so that other people who were affected by the first flight's delay could reach the gate and board as well.  The people who had already boarded were annoyed by the delay, but the flight landed at its destination a mere fifteen minutes behind schedule.

I would not recommend that anyone attempt to do what my coworker and her husband did, but, to borrow an expression from Jesus, I think it could be said that they knocked and the door was opened for them.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that, one day, Jesus retreats to a secluded place to pray, as He often does.  Once Jesus is finished praying, one of the disciples asks Him to teach them how to pray.  A rabbi's disciples dedicated their lives to becoming just like their teacher.  It was said that they sought to follow him closely enough to end up covered in the dust he kicked up as he walked.¹  The disciples have seen Jesus pray countless times since they left everything to follow Him, so naturally they want Him to teach them how to pray, in the same way that John the Baptist and other teachers taught their disciples to pray.²  Jesus then teaches them a very simple prayer that is a shortened version of the prayer Christians around the world still pray regularly nearly two thousand years later, a prayer we commonly call the Lord's Prayer.

We begin this prayer by turning our focus to God.  We address God as "Father" and then proclaim God's holiness, saying, "Hallowed be your name."  We then pray for God to reign on the earth, saying, "Your kingdom come."  With the remainder of the prayer, we place the entirety of our lives into God's hands.  We ask God to provide for our needs for the present as we pray, "Give us each day our daily bread."  We offer up to God our regrets from the past as we pray, "Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us."  Finally, we give to God our anxieties about the future as we pray, "Do not bring us to the time of trial."³

With this prayer, Jesus has taught the Disciples what to pray, but He has yet to teach them how to pray.  He goes on to tell them a parable that places them in the shoes of a man who receives an unexpected visitor in the dead of the night.  They live in a culture in which hospitality is, in the words of one scholar, a "sacred duty,"⁴ but unfortunately the unprepared host has no food to offer his guest who is doubtlessly hungry from his journey.  Desperate, he goes to his neighbor's house and knocks on the door, begging for a few loaves of bread.  In that day and time, doors were kept open during the day, meaning that one could come and go as one pleased, but, at night, when the door was locked, one knew not to knock unless there was an emergency.  Furthermore, knocking on the door would wake the entire household, since the whole family slept in the same room.⁵

Naturally, the neighbor responds, "Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything."  The man is persistent: unwilling to take "no" for an answer, he continues to knock.  Eventually, the neighbor opens the door and agrees to help him, not to be charitable or neighborly, but rather to get him off of his back so that he and his family can go back to sleep.

Jesus ends the parable, saying,
Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
I feel that I cannot speak about this teaching without addressing the proverbial elephant that enters the room whenever we hear it.  I'm referring, of course, to the painful reality that most of us, if not all of us, have asked for things we have not received, searched for things we have not found, and knocked on doors that have not opened.

Christians often respond to instances of seemingly unanswered prayer by making excuses for God or by blaming the one who was praying.  For example, if you told me a story of unanswered prayer in your life, I could tell you that what you requested actually was not good for you or that it was not part of God's perfect will.  I could tell you that you did not pray correctly or that you did not pray sincerely enough or persistently enough.  I could tell you that you did not have enough faith or that there is sin in your life for which you have not repented.  The fact of the matter is that it is irresponsible for people to flippantly say such things, for no one truly knows the state of anyone else's heart, nor can anyone comprehend the mind of God.  I think that maybe people say such things not to help other people move past their disappointment, but rather to reassure themselves that prayer still works, when they have heard a story that might give them a reason to doubt.

To be honest, I cringe a little bit whenever I hear someone say that "prayer works."  I'm not saying that I think that prayer is ineffectual, but this cliché statement makes me wonder what function people think prayer is supposed to have in our lives.  Is prayer merely a means of getting God to do what we want God to do?  Using words or rituals to get the Divine to do our bidding is not prayer – that's called magic.  I agree that prayer works, but I don't think it works like a vending machine, or like a magic lamp with a genie trapped inside, or like a letter to Santa Claus with a promise to be good.  Brian Zahnd, one of my favorite Christian thinkers, writes, "The primary purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what you want him to do, but to be properly formed.  We are formed as Christian people as we pray Christian prayers."⁶

Consider how we might be formed as disciples of Jesus Christ by regularly praying the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray.  This prayer reminds us of God's holiness, and it teaches us us to seek the Kingdom of God.  The prayer keeps our pride in check by reminding us that we are ultimately dependent on God for the provision of our needs.  It reminds us that we need forgiveness and grace from God and demands that we, as recipients of God's forgiveness and grace, extend forgiveness and grace to those who have wronged us.  It reminds us that we trust in God for protection in the midst of difficult times.  I would urge you to consider, for a centering practice, praying the Lord's Prayer slowly every morning, meditating on each phrase as you say it.⁷

Lois Tverberg, in her book Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, suggests that the way we pray reveals what we believe about God.  She writes, "The faith we're supposed to have is not in the outcome [of prayer], but in God himself.  God wants us to be absolutely convinced of his love for us and of his power and desire to take care of us."⁸  Consider how Jesus teaches us to address God in prayer – as Father.  Jesus asks the Disciples, "Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?  Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?"  These are ridiculous questions: no parent, except for maybe a complete sociopath, is sick enough give a hungry child a venomous creature like a snake or a scorpion.  Jesus concludes, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"  God is a loving parent who is more than happy to give us the greatest of gifts.

Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, "There is something which is far greater than my desire to pray, namely, God's desire that I pray...  Unless it is the will of God that I pray, unless God desires our prayer, how ludicrous is all my praying."⁹  Not only does God listen to us when we pray, God actually wants us to pray.  I would suggest that Jesus' exhortation to ask that we may receive, to search that we may find, and to knock that the door may be opened is not a promise that God will do whatever we ask God to do, but rather an invitation to approach God with any longing or concern that might be on our hearts, with the full confidence that God loves us and cares about our needs.  In the words of one early Christian theologian, "Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."¹⁰

So what are we to make of the parable Jesus told His disciples?  Are we to surmise that God must be nagged into submission like the grumpy neighbor?

Many of the parables teach us directly what God is like.  They teach us that God is like a shepherd who goes out of his way to find a lost sheep, like a woman who turns her house upside down to find a lost coin, and like a father who welcomes a wayward son home with a party.¹¹  Other parables are meant to teach us about God in a more indirect way.  With the Parable of the Friend at Night, Jesus is using a rhetorical device called kal val'homer, in which something small – like a human neighbor or parent – is contrasted with something much greater – like God.¹²  Basically, Jesus reasons that, if a grumpy neighbor can be provoked to help in the middle of the night and if even flawed human parents know how to treat their children, then we can rest assured that God, our divine parent who is by nature love itself, will do right by us.

Though the parable is not meant to teach us that God is like the grumpy neighbor, perhaps it is meant to teach us that we should pray to God like the one trying to get the grumpy neighbor's attention.  Perhaps Jesus is teaching us to pray with what the Jewish people call chutzpah.  Chutzpah is a Yiddish word that describes an almost obnoxious form of audacity, the very type of audacity that kept the man in the parable banging on his neighbor's door until his neighbor helped him.  Elsewhere in the Gospels, chutzpah is what we see in the pesky Syrophoenician woman who refuses to leave Jesus alone until He heals her daughter.^{13 14}  Heschel writes, "One cannot pray unless he has faith in his own ability to accost the infinite, merciful, eternal God."¹⁵

Like the man in the parable, we pray with chutzpah, as if we are desperately "knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door."¹⁶  We pray like Jacob who grappled with God all night, saying, "I won't let you go until you bless me."¹⁷  We pray audaciously, shamelessly, persistently, and patiently.  We ask until we receive; we search until we find; and we knock until the door is opened.  If we are unwilling to pray in this way, then maybe we aren't very desperate for God's help.  Maybe we didn't really want what we thought we wanted or need what we thought we needed.  In the words of one thinker, "In every other sphere the goal must reached by energizing, persistent effort; should not that be so in the greatest of all strivings?"¹⁸

Still, I wonder if there are times when we actually need the asking, the searching, and the knocking more than we need whatever motivated us to start asking, searching, and knocking in the first place.  Perhaps, there are times when we ask until we no longer need to receive, search until we no longer need to find, and knock until we no longer need the door to be opened.  Or perhaps there are times when we ask until we receive what we did not know we needed, search until we find what we were not expecting, and knock until a door we did not previously notice opens.  Perhaps, in the words of the great theologians Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "You can't always get what you want, but, if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need."¹⁹

Philosopher Peter Rollins tells a story about a mother whose child tragically dies at only a few month of age.  Unable to accept her loss, she wraps up her child's body and carries it with her.  She seeks out physicians, faith healers, shamans, and holy men and women of all kinds, desperate to find someone who is able to bring her child back to life.  Eventually the woman hears rumors of one saintly individual who lives atop a mountain, who is reportedly powerful enough to raise the dead.  She climbs the mountain, finds this holy man, and begs him to bring her child back to life.  He tells her that he can indeed raise her child back to life, but he needs her to first bring him one thing – a handful of mustard seeds from a household that has never experienced the pain of loss.  She immediately climbs down the mountain and begins her search in the town below.

The woman does not find a household that has never been touched by loss, but as she knocks on doors, searches for help, and asks people about their experiences, she is drawn into their stories of loss.  Slowly she comes to terms with her own grief, and eventually she is able to lay her child to rest.²⁰  She did not find what she wanted, but she did find the healing she needed.

Biblical scholar William Barclay offers us six guidelines for prayer.  First, pray knowing that God is the one who truly knows what is best for us.  Second, pray knowing that God sees the bigger picture.  Third, pray with absolute sincerity.  If you cannot pray sincerely for what you know you need, then pray that God will give you the desire for what you know you need.  Fourth, pray in detail: don't be vague.  Fifth, pray with a readiness to cooperate with God in the matter.  For example, if you pray that God will help you pass a test, then you need to do your best to prepare for the test.  Sixth, pray that God's will is done, remembering that God is loving and wise.²¹

St. Paul writes,
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.²²
Whatever anxiety or longing happens to be on your heart, offer it up to God in prayer.  At the same time, remember that we pray about such things not to get God to do what we want, but to place them into God's capable hands, trusting in God regardless of what happens.  Pray knowing that God wants to hear our prayers.  Pray knowing that God loves us and cares about our needs.  May God give us patience, boldness, and even chutzpah, as we continue to ask, search, and knock.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Rob Bell.  Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith.  2005, Zondervan.  p. 130
2. William Barclay.  The Gospel of Luke, Revised Edition.  1975, Westminster Press.  p. 143
3. Barclay, p. 143-144
4. William Barclay.  The Parables of Jesus.  1990, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 113
5. The Parables of Jesus, pp. 113-114
6. Brian Zahnd.  "You Are What You Pray."  brianzahnd.com, 05/27/13.
7. I found this practice in A Disciple's Path Daily Workbook by Justin LaRosa and James Harnish.  2012, Abingdon Press.  p. 34
8. Lois Tverberg.  Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life.  2012, Zondervan.  pp. 124-125
9. Abraham Joshua Heschel.  Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity.  1996, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  p. 107
10. Hebrews 4:16 (NRSV)
11. Luke 15
12. Tverberg, p. 120
13. Mark 7:24-30
14. Tverberg, p. 117
15. Heschel, p. 107
16. From "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan
17. Genesis 32:22-32 (CEB)
18. The Parables of Jesus, p. 116
19. From "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones
20. Peter Rollins.  Insurrection: To Believe is Human, to Doubt, Divine.  2011, Howard Books.  pp. 163-164
21. The Parables of Jesus,  pp. 117-118
22. Philippians 4:6-7 (NRSV)

The photograph of the door was taken by Nino Narozauli and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Perspective: How (Not) to Call Down Fire from Heaven

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

How (Not) to Call Down Fire from Heaven

If you love those who love you, why should you be commended?  Even sinners love those who love them.  If you do good to those who do good to you, why should you be commended?  Even sinners do that.  If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, why should you be commended?  Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be paid back in full.  Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return.  If you do, you will have a great reward.  You will be acting the way children of the Most High act, for he is kind to ungrateful and wicked people.  Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.

Luke 6:32-36 (CEB)

Oh, Father, won't You forgive them

They don't know what they've been doing

Oh, Father, give me grace to forgive them

'Cause I feel like the one losing

From "Losing" by Tenth Avenue North

Jesus' early ministry took place in the region of Galilee.  When Jesus headed south toward Jerusalem in the region of Judea, He and His disciples had to pass through the land of the Samaritans.  He sent some of His disciples into one of the Samaritan towns to find a place for them to stay for the night, but they returned to report that the people in the town would not welcome them.  James and John, two disciples whom Jesus had nicknamed "Sons of Thunder," likely because of their fiery temperament,¹ said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"²

James and John were taking their cues from Elijah, and ancient prophet who took no prisoners.  Once, when Elijah predicted that the king of Israel would soon die, the king sent an officer with a unit of soldiers to bring him back to the palace.  When they found Elijah sitting atop a mountain, the officer said, "O man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"  Elijah replied, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty."  Fire then came down from heaven and annihilated the soldiers.  The king then sent out another officer with another unit of soldiers, and the same thing happened.  The king sent a third officer with another fifty soldiers, and, when they found Elijah, they fell on their knees and begged him to return to the palace with them.³

This incident was not the first time Elijah killed a large number of people.  Years earlier, he challenged four hundred fifty prophets of Ba'al to see which of them could get their deity to accept an offering.  After Elijah won the contest, he slaughtered all of the prophets of Ba'al.⁴

Elijah's successor Elisha had brutal tendencies as well.  Once, when some little boys made fun of him because of his baldness, he miraculously summoned some bears to maul them.⁵

Does it disturb you that prophets of God would perform such violent "miracles"?

James and John wanted to obliterate the Samaritan village in the same way that Elijah destroyed the soldiers who came to arrest him.  They were merely following an example from a story they knew from Scripture, but Jesus apparently didn't like their suggestion very much.  He rebuked the two hotheads, saying, "You do not know what spirit you are of, for the Son of Man has not come to destroy the lives of human beings but to save them."⁶  By rebuking James and John, perhaps Jesus was also critiquing the prophet Elijah.  Maybe Jesus thought that calling down fire from heaven was not the right thing for Elijah to do.

Elijah had made an appearance in the Gospel story not long before James and John made their suggestion.  One day, Jesus hiked up a mountain to pray, with James, John, and Peter.  While praying, Jesus was transfigured, taking on a heavenly appearance.  Elijah, along with Moses, appeared and talked with Jesus, and an awestruck Peter offered to build dwellings for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses.  Suddenly, a cloud enveloped everyone present, and God spoke from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"⁷

Brian Zahnd notes that, by wanting to enshrine Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the mountaintop, Peter was basically putting all three of them on equal footing with each other.  God responded to Peter's suggestion by telling everyone present to listen specifically to Jesus.  A disciple of Jesus must take his or her cues from the teachings and examples of Jesus Himself and not from Moses or Elijah or any other biblical or historical figures.⁸  There is a reason why Christians ask, "What would Jesus do?" and not, "What would Elijah do?"

In some ways, Jesus was like Elijah and Elisha: He took a stand against the evils of His day, and He performed a lot of miracles to help people.  Unlike Elijah and Elisha, who had no compunction against smiting those who got in their way, Jesus chose to endure suffering at the hands of those who would do Him harm while praying for their forgiveness.⁹  In this way, Jesus was like the later prophets who suffered greatly for the stand they took.

James and John had heard the teachings of Jesus, so they should have known the Jesus way of dealing with detractors.  Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."¹⁰  It's hard for us to think of other people as our enemies when we're loving on them.  If you are having trouble loving certain persons or certain groups of people and would like to love them more, try to find a way to serve them.  In the words of Abraham Lincoln, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"

Jesus once sent out His twelve disciples to travel throughout the region, doing what He had been doing - healing the sick, casting out demons, and proclaiming the Kingdom of God.  He gave them instructions not to take provisions for themselves but rather to rely on the hospitality of others.  He said that if any town refused to welcome them, they were to shake the dust off their feet and move on.¹¹  Upon leaving non-Jewish territory, some of the stricter Jews would literally shake the dust off their feet as if it was unclean.¹²  This simple act of protest against an unwelcoming city was a far cry from calling down fire to destroy it.

These lessons had yet to sink in for James and John.  Thank God that people are not static.  St. John, a "Son of Thunder" who once wanted to smite his enemies, would someday pen these words:
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.¹³

True Christians strive to know the Heart of Christ and they allow the Holy Spirit to transform them so that their hearts become more like His.  To seek the destruction of one's enemies is not the fruit of God's Spirit but the fruit of a divisive, ungodly, anti-Christian spirit.  Christ teaches us to love all people, including our enemies, for He came to save and not to destroy.


Notes:

1. Mark 3:17
2. Luke 9:51-54 (NRSV)
3. 2 Kings 1 (NRSV)
4. 1 Kings 18:20-40
5. 2 Kings 2:23-25
6. Luke 9:55-56 (NRSV)  (Note that, in some versions of the Bible, these words of Jesus are found in footnotes.)
7. Luke 9:28-36
8. Brian Zahnd.  "Ghosts on the Mountain."  Word of Life Church podcast, 03/07/2014.
9. Luke 23:34
10. Luke 6:27-28 (NRSV)
11. Luke 9:1-6 (NRSV)
12. William Barclay.  The Gospel of Luke, Revised Edition.  1975, Westminster Press.  p. 115
13. 1 John 4:7-8 (NRSV)

The photograph of the forest fire is used courtesy of the United States Department of Agriculture and is public domain.

Short Story: Who Is My Neighbor?

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Who Is My Neighbor?

A legal expert stood up to test Jesus.  "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to gain eternal life?"

Jesus replied, "What is written in the Law?  How do you interpret it?"

He responded, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus said to him, "You have answered correctly.  Do this and you will live."

But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Luke 10:25-29 (CEB)

You stumbled in and bumped your head
If not for me then you'd be dead
I picked you up and put you back on solid ground

From "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down

Many of the teachings of Jesus are so familiar to us that we do not always realize how offensive they were in His cultural context.  This short, fictional story is my humble attempt to make the Parable of the Good Samaritan¹ as offensive to myself as I imagine it was to its original audience.

I apologize for any medical inaccuracies.

---

I had driven downtown just before sunrise.  I had to get to work early that day, and I had promised my pastor that I would drop off some paperwork at our denomination's local office on the way.  I wore a lot of hats at my church.  At one point, I even thought about going into the ministry, but lately I had only been going through the motions.  A lot of things had been weighing on me in the last few years, and my spiritual life just didn't seem to be what it used to be.

I slid a large manila envelope through the mail slot and turned around to head back to my car.  I suddenly realized that, standing before me, was a man in a ski mask.  He deftly pulled out a knife, and, before I could react, he stabbed me in the gut.  In pain and in shock, I fell down and curled up into the fetal position.  The man in the ski mask went through my pockets, taking my wallet, my keys, and my cell phone.  I listened helplessly as he drove off in my car with all my personal effects.

When I finally came to my senses, I tried to get up off the ground, but I was in too much pain.  I noticed that a row of bushes stood between myself and the road, and I realized that nobody would be able to see me where I was.  I looked at my hands, which had been clutching my abdomen, and saw that they were covered with blood.  Nobody was scheduled to be at the office for several hours, so I knew I had to get to a place where somebody could see me.  I used all the strength I had within me to drag myself across the cold rough concrete to the church next door.  By the time I reached the side door, I had no strength left.  All I could do was to hope that somebody saw me there.

What felt like an eternity passed.  "Tony, what happened?!" a man's voice asked.  I looked up, and relief washed over me as I saw Pastor Aaron.  Pastor Aaron was the campus minister who led the religious group I attended when I was in college.  He influenced me greatly in my life: in fact, he was one of the reasons I once considered going into the ministry.

Unable to get any words out, I uttered a faint groan.

"That's tough," he replied.  "I have to get to an important clergy meeting.  I really hope you get the help you need."  He walked through the side door into the church.

I could not believe my ears.  Was his meeting really so important that he had to leave me bleeding beside the church?  Was it so damn important that he couldn't even risk being late by calling an ambulance for me?

Another lifetime passed.  I looked up and saw Rachel, a dear friend from my church.  When I was a child, Rachel taught me in Sunday school, and we have been close ever since.  "Oh my goodness!" she said.  "What happened?!"

I mustered up enough strength to barely squeak out, "Help me!"

"I'm so sorry," she replied.  "I have to get ready for my ladies' Bible study group - I'm leading today.  I hope everything turns out alright."  Rachel walked into the church, doing nothing to help me, just as Pastor Aaron had done.

I remembered the Sunday morning decades ago when Rachel taught me about Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan.  I remembered how she taught me that Christians go out of their way to help people in need.  The irony of it all wasn't lost on me: now I was the man dying on the side of the road, and she was one of the religious leaders who did nothing to help him.  If this is the work of the Church, I thought to myself, then I'm done with it all.  Of course, at the rate things were going, I would probably never have another chance to set foot inside a church.

I began to wonder if I could really trust my senses.  If I had less blood to carry oxygen to my brain, it only made sense that I might be hallucinating.  Surely nobody would just leave me here to die, I thought.  When I looked up again, I had no doubt that I was hallucinating, for I thought I saw Dara.  Dara had once been a pastor, but now there was no way she would ever show her face at a church.

At one time, I looked up to Dara.  When I met her several years ago, I thought I had met a kindred spirit.  She was very supportive of me as I was exploring a future in the ministry.  She even let me speak at her church a few times.  Everything changed between us a few years later, when she showed her true colors.  I came to the realization that she was nothing but a lying, manipulative hypocrite.  She got into legal trouble; she ended up resigning from the pastorate; and her marriage fell apart.  The last time I saw her, I told her in explicit detail what I thought of her.  I said things to her I didn't think I would ever say to another human being, but I was just so angry with her.

Now, in some sense, Dara was there to look down her nose at me before I died.  I looked up again and saw that she was gone.  I closed my eyes and waited to see what lies beyond this earthly existence.  Suddenly I felt myself being moved.  I noticed the sensation of warm denim against my cheek, and I realized that I was now lying on someone's lap.  I felt a hand caress my head.  "I just called 911," a voice above me said.  "An ambulance is on the way.  Just hang on!"  The voice definitely belonged to Dara, but she sounded as if she was far away.


The next thing I remembered is waking beneath bright florescent lights.  I felt tubes blowing air into my nostrils.  As my eyes began to focus, I realized that I was in an intensive care unit of a hospital.  I looked to my side saw more tubes attached to my arm.  I looked over the rail of my hospital bed and saw Dara staring back at me.  She looked tired and pale.  I noticed a large bandage wrapped around her arm at the elbow.

Seeing that I was awake and stable, Dara went home.  A nurse then came in and told me what a good friend I had in her.  He told me that not only had Dara ridden to the hospital with me and stayed with me until I awoke, she had given me two units of blood because I was in desperate need of a transfusion.

I later learned that I really was hallucinating after I was stabbed.  After I was discharged from the hospital, I confronted both Pastor Aaron and Rachel and asked them why they would not help me.  It turns out that neither of them were anywhere near the downtown church that day.  In fact, Pastor Aaron was out of town that week, attending a conference.  What wasn't a hallucination was Dara.  If she had not been passing by the church that day, I would surely be a goner.

I saw Christ that day, not in the people in whom I would normally expect to see Him, but in the person in whom I least wanted to see Him.  This "Good Samaritan," whose blood now flows within my veins, was there for me in my time of need, even after I had been so unkind to her in the past.  At one time, I never wanted to see her again, but now I owe my life to her.  We do not get to choose the people with whom we cross paths in this life, and it is not up to us - Thanks be to God! - to decide who belongs in the vast Kingdom of God and who does not.


Notes:

1. For the Parable of the Prodigal Son, see Luke 10:30-37.  See also James 2:14-17.

The photograph of the roadside curb was taken by Michelle Arseneault, and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Sermon: One Thing (2016)

Delivered at Trinity United Methodist Church in Laurens, South Carolina on July 3, 2016

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

One Thing

Audio Version

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.  And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

So he told them this parable:

"There was a man who had two sons.  The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.'  So he divided his property between them.  A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.  When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.  He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.  But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!  I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."'  So he set off and went to his father.  But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.  Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe — the best one — and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.  He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.'  Then he became angry and refused to go in.  His father came out and began to plead with him.  But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!'  Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

Luke 15:1-3,11b-32 (NRSV)

My chains are gone, I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood, His mercy rains

Unending love, amazing grace

From "My Chains Are Gone" by Chris Tomlin

One major criticism lobbed at Jesus involved the type of company He kept.  One day, when Jesus hears some of His detractors criticizing Him for associating with so-called "sinners," He begins telling parables to help people to see that He, the Son of Man, "came to seek out and to save the lost."¹  Some people refer to these stories as the "lost parables."  First, Jesus tells a story about a shepherd who leaves behind ninety-nine well-behaved sheep to find the one that went astray.  Next, He tells a story about a woman who turns her house upside-down looking for a lost coin.²  Finally, He tells a very powerful story about a rich man who has two lost sons.


The Prodigal Son

The story begins when the younger of the two sons approaches his father and asks for his share of the family fortune.  This request is tantamount to asking his father to drop dead, but, in spite of this display of utter disrespect, his father gives him what he wants.  The young man then leaves his home, moves far away, and begins to live a life of "wine, women, and song."  Eventually his money dries up, and he can no longer afford his hedonistic lifestyle.  Then, to make matters worse, a famine hits the land, and he begins to go hungry.  With no other options, he takes a job working for a pig farmer, a job not fitting for someone who was raised in a Jewish home.

As the young man turns a lustful eye towards the junk he's feeding the pigs, he remembers how well his father treated the household servants.  He then hatches a plan to go back home and beg his father to let him return, not as a son but as a hired servant.  As he nears his home, rehearsing what he is planning to say, his father sees him from a distance and runs out to embrace him.  The son tries to make his spiel, but the father won't listen.  Instead, he calls his servants and tells them to dress his son in the finest clothes they can find and to prepare for a welcome-home party.

Meanwhile, the older son is out taking care of his father's estate, and he hears music and dancing.  He asks one of the household staff what is going on, and he learns that his brother has returned and that his father has thrown him a party.  The older son is enraged.  His worthless brother leaves home, squanders his inheritance doing God knows what, and then comes home to be treated like a king!  He, on the other hand, has never given his father any grief whatsoever and has even spent years busting his hump working for him.  His brother leaves home and does nothing but party and then comes home to yet another party.  Is there no justice? he thought to himself.  I'm the one who does all the work around here!  I'm the one who deserves a party!

The older son confronts his father about this gross injustice, and the father says, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found."

If you took a poll, asking people which of Jesus' parables is their favorite, I would wager a guess that the Parable of the Prodigal Son would be either the most popular answer or a close second.  It is not hard to see why so many people love this story.  It is the type of parable that comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.  It can be a great comfort to anyone who has ever identified with the wayward younger son, for it reminds us that, no matter what we've done, God is always ready to welcome us home with open arms.  At the same time, though, this parable can be deeply discomforting, like so many of Jesus' teachings, because, if we let it, it just might throw a light on some parts of ourselves we would probably rather not see.

One thing I personally like about this parable is how fun it is to psychoanalyze the two sons.  It is probably a safe assumption that the older son has what pop psychology calls a Type A personality.  People with Type A personalities can be described as organized, ambitious, and competitive and are often prone to hostility, irritability, impatience, and stress.  Perhaps the younger brother has a Type B personality.  Someone with a Type B personality is much more easygoing, preferring the enjoyment of life over personal achievement.³

Though we tend to focus on the differences between the two sons, it is important to consider what they have in common.  Neither son seemed to enjoy life at his father's house: the younger son could not wait to receive his inheritance and leave, while the older son thought of himself as a slave.  The main difference between the two is that the older son stayed and did what he was supposed to do while the younger son left and did what he actually wanted to do.  I wonder if maybe the older son's rage did not really come from disgust toward his brother's lifestyle.  I wonder if he was actually envious that his brother actually got the chance to leave home and enjoy his life, while he stayed at home and resigned himself to a life of slavery to his father.  In the words of one preacher, "Maybe the one you've lost is sleeping in your own house."⁴

I wonder if the two sons were both haunted by what my friend Laura calls perceived expectations.  In other words, I wonder if deep down they thought that their father had unreasonable expectations of them.  The older son spent his life striving to earn his father's approval, while the younger son gave up on ever earning his father's approval and simply left home to enjoy life.  Both sons thought of life at their father's house as a life of slavery, but perhaps the two were slaves to nothing but their own flawed perceptions of their father.  When the younger son returns home, hoping to be hired as a worker, his father puts a robe on his shoulders and throws him a welcome-home party.  When the older son objects to his father's gracious treatment of the younger son, the father says, "What's mine is yours."  These are hardly the actions of a slave driver.

I think that some Christians are spiritual Type A's.  Like Jesus' critics, they toil and struggle and strain to please God while setting themselves apart from so-called "sinners."  They turn up their noses at people who live for the moment, reminding themselves that, though others may enjoy their lives now, they will enjoy a much greater reward later on.  Deep down, they're miserable.  The God they strive to please seems to remain hopelessly out of reach.  They beat themselves up on the inside because they cannot measure up to the expectations they assume God has for them.⁵  They envy and resent free-spirited people who seem to enjoy their lives with no apparent trace of guilt or shame.  I know that such Christians exist, because I have been one.


The Prodigal Daughter

In the Gospel, there is another story about a pair of siblings who have conflicting Type A and Type B personalities.

Jesus was very close with a certain family who lived in the town of Bethany.  In this family were two sisters named Mary and Martha and a brother named Lazarus, who apparently had some health problems.  This family was apparently financially comfortable, though not necessarily rich.⁶  We know that Jesus occasionally stayed with this family as He traveled, proclaiming His message about the Kingdom of God.

One evening, while Jesus is staying at this family's house, Martha is busy preparing dinner.  She is keenly aware of everything that is expected of her, as a host and as a woman, and, for some reason, things just aren't getting done.  With society's expectations weighing heavily upon her, she becomes angry with her sister Mary for not lending her a hand.  When Martha cannot take the stress any longer, she loses her temper, walks over to where Jesus is teaching, and interrupts Him, saying, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?  Tell her then to help me."⁷

While Type-A Martha has been doing her best to be a good host to Jesus, Type-B Mary has been sitting at His feet, listening to Him teach.  In our society, Mary might come across as inconsiderate of her sister, and perhaps a bit lazy, but the world was a very different place when Jesus walked the earth.  In Jesus' day, when a rabbi taught, His disciples sat at His feet and listened.  Women were not educated at the time, so they wouldn't have been chosen by rabbis to be disciples.  By sitting at Jesus' feet, Mary has basically declared herself to be one of Jesus' disciples.⁸  Apparently, Mary has a lot of nerve and no regard for her place in society.

I believe that Mary of Bethany could rightfully be named the "Prodigal Daughter."  Most people incorrectly think that the word prodigal means "wayward."  In one sense, Mary was wayward like the Prodigal Son, because she threw aside everything that was expected of her to do what she wanted to do.  The word prodigal actually means "extravagant."  On another occasion when Jesus and his disciples are staying with the family in Bethany, Mary barges in during dinner, breaks open a very expensive jar of perfume, and pours the perfume all over Jesus.  Some theorize that this jar of perfume, which is worth about a year's wages for a common worker, may have been a gift from her parents to provide for her future financial security.⁹  Then, in an act that would be considered extremely immodest in her day, she lets her hair down and wipes Jesus' feet with it.¹⁰

Mary was shameless and wasteful, just like the Prodigal Son.

As a host, Mary was supposed to help her sister with the housework; instead she sought spiritual enlightenment at the feet of Jesus.  As a woman, she was supposed to be modest; instead, she did things that were considered indecent and wasteful to express some of her deepest feelings.  Mary was not willing to simply be the person her family and her society thought she was supposed to be.  She refused to be a slave to perceived expectations, and she was true to herself.

Mary followed her heart, and Jesus commended her for it.

When Martha tells Jesus to make Mary do what she is supposed to do, Jesus replies, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."¹¹  When one disciple chastises Mary for wasting the expensive bottle of perfume, Jesus comes to her defense.  In one version of this story, Jesus says, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her?  She has performed a good service for me...  Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her."¹²


"There Is Need of Only One Thing"

So what is the "one thing" Jesus said was needed - the "one thing" Mary chose - the "one thing" that would not be taken away from her?

St. Paul writes in one of his letters that he has been tormented by something he calls a "thorn in the flesh."¹³  He never states exactly what this "thorn in the flesh" is, but there has been a lot of speculation.  Many think he is probably referring to some sort of physical ailment, perhaps weakening eyesight.  I wonder if Paul might be referring to something else, something he apparently doesn't want to put into writing.  Though the word flesh might refer to a person's body, it is also used in the Bible to refer to the ego or the self.  In another letter, Paul laments, "I'm sold as a slave to sin.  I don't know what I'm doing, because I don't do what I want to do.  Instead, I do the thing that I hate."¹⁴  I wonder if Paul had some sort of character flaw or moral failure that he just couldn't seem to overcome.

If this is the case, then perhaps perceived expectations also weighed heavily on Paul.  He wasn't living up to his own expectations, and perhaps he thought that he wasn't living up to God's expectations either.  Paul was a leader in the Church, so perhaps he felt that he wasn't living up to his calling.  I wonder if maybe he felt the need to maintain what one seminary professor called the "pastor's mystique."  Nobody wants to know that pastors aren't perfect, so sometimes pastors feel the need to constantly guard themselves lest people discover their faults and failures and lose all respect for them.¹⁵

Paul realizes that he cannot overcome his problem on his own, so he begs God to take it away from him.  He prays three times, and things do not get any better.  In Paul's life - as in Martha's kitchen - things just aren't getting done.

Finally, Paul hears God say, "My grace is enough for you."¹⁶

God basically says, "Paul, your 'thorn in the flesh' is not going away.  You are never going to live up to anyone's expectations, not even your own.  But that's alright.  You don't have to be perfect.  I love you, and I accept you just as you are, 'thorns' and all."

I wonder if perhaps the "one thing" Mary received was grace.  Sometimes we think of God's grace as the power from God to do better, but perhaps grace is something altogether different.  According to theologian Paul Tillich, "Grace does not mean simply that we are making progress in our moral self-control, in our fight against special faults, and in our relationships to men and to society."  Tillich describes God's grace as that which calls out to us in our darkest moments, saying:
You are accepted.  You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know.  Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later.  Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much.  Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything.  Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!¹⁷

Mary was able to flout the world's expectations of her and follow her heart because she had accepted God's grace.  She had accepted that she was already loved and accepted by God.  Accepting God's grace gives us freedom,

• freedom from perceived expectations,
• freedom from the rat race that has engulfed the world around us,
• freedom from the words supposed to,
• freedom the fear of getting it wrong,
• freedom to be who we were created to be.

It's no wonder that the words grace and peace are so often coupled together.  Accepting God's grace gave Mary the freedom to be who she was created to be, a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Mary's place was not in the kitchen but at the feet of her Rabbi.

Sometimes we find ourselves carrying burdens we were never meant to carry, by trying to live up to expectations we were never meant to meet.  We cannot please everyone, and, if we try to meet everyone's expectations, we will become slaves to every person we meet.  For some people, perceived expectations have even become a religion, for they have projected unreasonable expectations onto God in the same way that the two sons in Jesus' parable projected unreasonable expectations onto their father.  Christ said,
Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.¹⁸
If our religion feels more like a millstone around our necks, then something has gone horribly wrong.

Like Mary of Bethany, we are all called to be disciples of Jesus Christ, but each one of us is called to follow Christ in a way that is unique, personal, and natural.  According to C.S. Lewis, when we serve God, we actually become more ourselves than we ever were.¹⁹  I believe this is why Christ says that His yoke is easy.  One recent translation of the Bible paraphrases Jesus' words in this way: "Put My yoke upon your shoulders - it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves."²⁰  Frederick Buechner writes, "The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."²¹  A life of slavery and conformity is the last thing God has in mind for us, so don't make your life any harder than it already is!

Grace allows us to cast aside all the expectations of the world around us; grace gives us the freedom to follow our hearts and the freedom to become fully who God created us to be; and grace welcomes us home those times when following our hearts lands us in a pigsty.  If you have been carrying around the heavy burden of people's expectations, may you fully accept God's grace.  May you accept that you are already loved and accepted by God, and may this love and acceptance bring you peace.

Grace and peace be with you.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Luke 19:10 (NRSV)
2. Luke 15:4-10
3. Wikipedia: Type A and Type B personality theory
4. Kent Dobson.  "Parables: Prodigal Son."  Mars Hill Bible Church podcast, 06/21/2015.
5. David Seamands describes such Christians in Healing for Damaged Emotions. 1981, David C. Cook.  p. 15
6. Frank Viola.  God's Favorite Place on Earth.  2013, David C. Cook.  p. 17
7. Luke 10:38-40 (NRSV)
8. Wikipedia: Mary of Bethany
9. Viola p. 139
10. John 12:1-8
11. Luke 10:41-42 (NRSV) (emphasis mine)
12. Mark  14:6,9 (NRSV).  Yes, I realize that Mark's account of Jesus' anointing does not identify the woman anointing Jesus as Mary of Bethany, but I really like Jesus' response in this account.
13. 2 Corinthians 12:7
14. Romans 7:14-15 (CEB)
15. Craig Groeschel.  Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say.  2010, Multnomah Books.  pp. 9-10
16. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
17. Paul Tillich.  The Shaking of the Foundations.  ch. 19
18. Matthew 11:28-30 (NRSV)
19. C.S. Lewis.  The Screwtape Letters.  ch. 13
20. Matthew 11:29 (The Voice)
21. Frederick Buechner.  Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC.  1993, Harper One.  p. 119

The Return of the Prodigal Son was painted by Pompeo Batoni in 1773.  Christ in the House of Martha and Mary was painted by Johannes Vermeer in 1654.  The Sharpie tattoo on my left forearm was badly drawn by me in 2013.